1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector mold capable of molding a plurality of kinds of connectors by exchanging inserts and to a connector molding method for molding a plurality of kinds of connectors by exchanging inserts.
2. Description of the Related Art
A first male connector 10 shown in FIG. 10A and a second male connector 15 shown in FIG. 10B are the subject of copending Appl. No. 09/300,504. The connectors 10, 15 have a common basic construction which is comprised of a housing main body 11 and a receptacle 12. Each prior art connector 10 and 15 further has a rib 13 formed on the inner surface of the receptacle 12 for preventing an assembling error, and a rib 14 formed on the outer surfaces of the housing body 11 for identifying the connectors 10 and 15. However the ribs 13 and 14 are different on the respective connectors 10 and 15. Specifically, in the first prior art male connector 10, the ribs 13, 14 are aligned toward the left when viewed from the front of the connector 10. In the second prior art male connector 15, the ribs 13, 14 are aligned toward the right.
Female connectors 16, 17 can mate with male connectors 10, 15. The female connectors 16, 17 have grooves 18 formed in positions to receive corresponding ribs 13 in the receptacle 12 of the male connectors 15. Thus the male and female connectors cannot be connected unless properly combined. More particularly, ribs 13 on the inner surface of a receptacle 12 of a male connector 10, 15 prevent assembling the male connectors 10, 15 with wrong female connectors 16, 17. The ribs 14 which are provided exteriorly on the housing main bodies 11 of male connectors 10, 15 are for identifying the male connectors 10, 15 during a testing procedure. A corresponding electrical test set is generally provided with a corresponding groove which helps to separate connectors to be measured from other types of connectors.
One possible connector mold 1 for forming the first and second male connectors 10, 15 is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 and employs conventional mold manufacturing theories. This connector mold 1 is comprised of a pair of openable mold main bodies 2, 3, and can form two kinds of connectors 10, 15 by exchanging inserts 4, 5 in the mold main bodies 2, 3. In the case of forming the first male connector 10, an insert 5A having a groove 6 for forming the error assembling preventing rib 13 formed in its position toward the bottom in FIG. 11 is assembled into one mold main body 3 shown at the right side of FIG. 11. An insert 4A having a groove 7 for forming the identification rib 14 formed in its position toward the bottom in FIG. 11 is assembled into the other mold main body 2. Then, resin is injected into the mold. In the case of molding the second male connector 15, an insert 5B formed with the groove 6 and an insert 4B formed with the groove 7 are assembled, as shown in FIG. 12 in the respective mold main bodies 2, 3 in positions toward the top of FIG. 12 and resin is injected into the mold.
Since the conventionally designed connector mold 1 is such that the inserts 4, 5 are separately assembled into the respective mold main bodies 2, 3, there is an undesirable likelihood that a connector having a wrong mode in which the ribs 13, 14 do not correspond to each other may be formed by, for example, mistakenly assembling the inserts 4B, 5A. Further, a long time is required to make a confirmation when the inserts 4, 5 are assembled into the mold main bodies 2, 3 in order to avoid such a situation, resulting in a poor connector molding efficiency.
In view of the above problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector mold and a connector molding method capable of improving a connector molding efficiency.